| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
HymanKaplan
Joined: 14 Jun 2011
|
 Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 5:15 pm Post subject: Funny = fun, very dirty = gross, handsome = generous? |
 |
|
I've noticed that there are three words that my students consistently use in ways that seem odd. I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this, and if this rules are the same in the Korean language, which is why they're copying over.
1. "Funny" seems to be used for both funny and fun.
2. "Very dirty" seems to be used in situations where the students want to express disgust, i.e. "gross." For example: Kim Jong-il and facial hair are "very dirty."
3. "Handsome" seems to be used to mean generous.
When I'm lenient with the children because they're sick and tired, or if I bring in candy, or sometimes when I play a game, they say: "Oh thank you teacher, you're so handsome." The first time was a bit offputting, but since it was a boy and most of my kids are quite homophobic I assumed it was just a mistranslation. Since then I've had this happen a dozen times or more. It's almost always the boys, which would seem to indicate that the girls are aware of the word's actual meaning. But there's been a couple girls who called me "cute" under the same circumstances the boys call me handsome. So maybe this is a Korean cultural thing where you're supposed to flatter people when they do something for you?
So yeah, anybody know about any of these examples?
HK |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
sadguy
Joined: 13 Feb 2011
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 5:44 pm Post subject: |
|
|
my students and teachers say something is funny when they actually meant fun.
they also do the same with boring. they say "i'm boring" when they mean "i'm bored."
handsome means handsome, doesn't mean generous. they're just kissing your ass when you're giving them candy. a korean girl might be insulted that you called her cute because they think "why didn't he say i'm pretty/beautiful."
i think very dirty could also mean slutty. my female students have called certain female celebs as being "dirty." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
HymanKaplan
Joined: 14 Jun 2011
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 6:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| sadguy wrote: |
my students and teachers say something is funny when they actually meant fun.
they also do the same with boring. they say "i'm boring" when they mean "i'm bored."
handsome means handsome, doesn't mean generous. they're just kissing your ass when you're giving them candy. a korean girl might be insulted that you called her cute because they think "why didn't he say i'm pretty/beautiful."
i think very dirty could also mean slutty. my female students have called certain female celebs as being "dirty." |
The boring example is something they do with a lot of words--it's very hard to get the difference between endangered and dangerous across, for instance. Or scary and scared.
I think this is because Koreans would usually use verbs where we would use adjectives: "He scares me," or "you bore me." My linguistics teach told me that many languages use verbs in place of adjectives wherever possible. Arabic takes this to the extreme--and never uses copula + adjective. Korean may somewhere between these extremes. Though I'd need a Korean-speaker to confirm this.
And I didn't say the girls are cute (though they are, all my kids are cute), I said some of them call me cute, which is probably the same kind of flattery. Cute of course has a double meaning in English--cute like a kid or a penguin, or cute like Ellen Page (or Justin Bieber or Big Bang where Korean girls are concerned). I do tell students that I want to see their pretty faces when I'm trying to move them up from the back of the class.
I've also noticed that Koreans say "I'll borrow you an umbrella," using borrow for lend. I assume that Korean has one word for both, which would work like "rent" in English, with the meaning being shown by context.
HK |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
methdxman
Joined: 14 Sep 2010
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 9:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Fun/Funny
Bored/Boring
Borrow/lend
These are common mistakes made by many people who have learned English as a second language. Very, very common.
The handsome/cute thing is a bit weird... but Koreans put a lot of emphasis on beauty so I wouldn't be surprised. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
SeoulNate
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Location: Hyehwa
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 9:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| sadguy wrote: |
handsome means handsome, doesn't mean generous. they're just kissing your ass when you're giving them candy. |
This |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
myenglishisno
Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Location: Geumchon
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:00 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| methdxman wrote: |
| The handsome/cute thing is a bit weird... but Koreans put a lot of emphasis on beauty so I wouldn't be surprised. |
I asked my Jr. high school students to write the qualities of a good friend and a bad friend. The top quality of a good friend was that they were pretty/handsome whereas a bad friend was ugly.
I think attractiveness figures in here well before personality. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:01 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Easy solution to the fun/funny problem: Everland is fun, teacher is funny.
As for dirty, I don't think it's really incorrect usage, just a little bit strange. Picking your nose is disgusting because it's a dirty thing to do. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| methdxman wrote: |
| Borrow/lend |
This is a really good one and others in a similar vein also pop up:
hear/listen
see/look/watch
find/look for
I'm sure there's more but I can't recall them. The problem there is that the groups, at first glance, translate into essentially the same verbs in Korean (in the middle of class, at least) and only get distinguished by grammar and/or context.
| HymanKaplan wrote: |
| I think this is because Koreans would usually use verbs where we would use adjectives: "He scares me," or "you bore me." My linguistics teach told me that many languages use verbs in place of adjectives wherever possible. Arabic takes this to the extreme--and never uses copula + adjective. Korean may somewhere between these extremes. Though I'd need a Korean-speaker to confirm this. |
That's pretty close.
I feel that a lot of those ed/ing adjectives get mixed up by Koreans because they are used to saying a simple and short phrase when expressing these feelings; i.e. if they want to express boredom then they would just say 재미없어 without any subject or object. It can be broken to some degree by pointing out the silliness in saying "I'm boring" or "I'm scary" but since using what we would consider an adjective as a verb is so prevalent in the language, it's not something you just explain that they jot down and retain with ease.
| Quote: |
| "Very dirty" seems to be used in situations where the students want to express disgust, i.e. "gross." For example: Kim Jong-il and facial hair are "very dirty." |
Similarly, I think this is a direct translation issue. It's super easy for students to connect the Korean expression 더러워 with the word dirty, but the Korean word gets used more frequently to mean gross or disgusting than dirty does in English.
Handsome has been thoroughly elaborated. Kids here will suck up for candy in a flash. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
drydell
Joined: 01 Oct 2009
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
The handsome one is interesting because it can mean generous...
| Quote: |
handsome
adj
1 (of a man) good-looking, esp. in having regular, pleasing, and well-defined features
2 (of a woman) fine-looking in a dignified way
3 well-proportioned, stately, or comely
a handsome room
4 liberal or ample
a handsome allowance
5 gracious or generous
a handsome action |
think of the often used phrase a handsome reward...
maybe they are just kissing your ass....but maybe its a misunderstanding of the usage..perfect chance to see if the kids have got the wrong use of a particular word..test them on it to see |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ATM SPIDERTAO
Joined: 05 Jul 2009
Location: seoul, south korea
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:22 pm Post subject: |
|
|
turns out "handsome" is like the korean version of
"absolutely gorgeous"
when referring to guys they ACTUALLY like, korean girls VERY rarely use the world "handsome" in actual korean
when they're kissing ass, they throw it around without actually meaning it. it'd be like calling your 30 year old teacher HOT when you're 12. you don't really mean it.
sadly, i let it get to my head and thought i was actually considered top tier in attractiveness here haha when girls are being serious, they usually say i'm cute or good looking but rarely EVER handsome. unless you get that one girl who says that, goes all shy and giggles and looks away blushing. then you know you're hot. hahaha they're usually ugly anyway tho.
like handsome is generally used as "good looking" in english but the world chalsingetso or whatever you spell it in hangul is actually like the highest form of compliment. and usually reserved for boy band styled guys. not older, more respectable men. the kind of guy in a pop band that would be called gay if he were straight back home. that's the kind of guy they think are handsome usually. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Triban
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
Location: Suwon Station
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Ah so that's what chalsingetso means...I've always wondered because I hear it on occassion. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
joelove
Joined: 12 May 2011
|
| Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
| northway wrote: |
| Picking your nose is disgusting because it's a dirty thing to do. |
But it's so much fun. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
johnnyrook
Joined: 08 Nov 2009
|
| Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:59 am Post subject: |
|
|
| 잘생겼다. It's a pretty funny phrase because 생기다 can mean "to be born", making the meaning "Well born", although it has several other meanings, with similar connotations, like "to be formed" "to come into existence" etc. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
rainism
Joined: 13 Apr 2011
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Triban wrote: |
| Ah so that's what chalsingetso means...I've always wondered because I hear it on occassion. |
triban, I'm not a hater, but you keep fishing for it, no?
does that mean you're you also called gay back home?
and have you ever considered changing your handle to Narcissus? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:38 am Post subject: |
|
|
1. They confuse 'funny' and 'fun' because a.) the two words look alike, and b.) they don't fully get the distinction between the two concepts. In Korean, 'jemi-issda' covers 'funny', 'fun', and 'interesting' all at once.
2. Kim Jong Il is 'dirty' because of his unpleasant character, because he's corrupt, and also because he looks like a pig.
3. They call teachers 'handsome' (or 'pretty') as a way of sucking up, but they think it's cute to do it and sort-of appropriate to the teacher-student relationship.
It's funny remembering back when I found all these things weird and baffling as well! Now I'm so used to them, I don't even think about it, and I can't decide whether that's a gain or a loss. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
